“Then, Mr. Watson, can the story be called ‘Heart of the Ocean’?” Princess suggested, her hair gently swaying in the sea breeze.
“Of course,” Xia De nodded, then coughed, “Then I’ll begin. This is a true story that happened not long ago, perhaps…”
The story of the great ship sinking, which had been passed down for a long time in his hometown, didn’t need much change in detail to be told, as the era of the story’s background wasn’t much different from the present.
Facing the sea breeze and watching the scenery of Coldwater Port gradually recede, Xia De narrated the story, while Princess leaned her hands on the railing, listening and gazing out at the sea.
In the wind, her golden hair swayed gently backward. Originally, she just wanted to pass the time before the auction and find an excuse to have Xia De join her for a drink. But when Xia De’s story ended, the young girl no longer cared about drinking.
“...That sapphire necklace, she threw it into the sea. The seawater swallowed it, just as the ocean swallowed her beloved on that disastrous night many years ago. Watching it disappear without a trace, the white-haired old woman seemed to return to that night many years ago, back to that ship. She transformed back into that young Golden-haired girl, and together with the man beside her, stepped into the ballroom where the violin music was enchanting.”
Xia De ended the story with his voice gradually fading. He was moved by the story he told and greatly admired his storytelling ability, which was one of his strengths. A good story is always charming in any world.
He turned to look at his companion beside him, but unfortunately, he was wearing a mask, so he couldn't see the expression of the girl in the blue dress, only her pretty eyes.
“It’s finished. How was the story?”
“Very good.” Her voice was normal, and no emotion could be heard, so Princess probably wasn't deeply moved.
“Do you… often use this method to tell stories to girls?” she asked softly against the wind.
“What?”
“No, nothing.” The girl, whose hair had faded and whose ends were already tinged with red, shook her head slightly, then looked back at the sea.
“Alright, you don’t have to drink. I admit this is a very good love story, very beautiful… Although, I suspect you omitted some parts in the middle. For example, when you mentioned the painting scene, you obviously skipped some content, making the story disjointed.”
She glanced at Xia De, and seeing no reaction from him, she sighed.
“For someone like me, whose life is short, it’s wonderful to hear such a story.”
“Don’t say anything about a short life. There must be a way to eradicate the curse.”
Xia De had to speak now. Although they had only known each other for half a day, he already considered Princess a friend and didn't want anything to happen to her.
“But this isn’t a story I wrote.” Even if no one could expose him, Xia De wouldn’t claim someone else’s story as his own; otherwise, he wouldn’t even have the face to see Mia.
“The story was told to me by someone. It’s a local tale that has been passed down for a long time.”
“I rather hope this is just a story, and not something that actually happened, otherwise it would be too sad. I really dislike tragedies… Of course, I also admit the charm of tragedies.”
Princess took a deep breath, as if to expel all her bad emotions.
“After the auction, we will part ways, and perhaps we will never have the chance to meet again in this lifetime. Mr. Watson, since we had the good fortune to meet today and come here together, why don’t we enjoy the banquet?”
“What, do you want to experience standing at the bow of the ship, feeling like in the story?”
Saying that, Xia De spread his arms and gestured, and the masked girl laughed.
“No, there’s no beautiful sunset shining on the sea now, and no band playing your off-key tunes. If there’s a chance, with my ship… I mean, there are fifteen minutes until the auction starts. Would you like to dance with me?”
She extended her right hand to Xia De. Since this wasn't a formal banquet, she wasn't wearing gloves. That fair hand was poised in the air.
“Do you want to dance?”
Xia De thought for a moment, believing that although the other party seemed calm, she was still affected by the emotions from listening to the story just now.
“Of course, no problem.” He raised his right hand, letting Princess’s hand rest on his.
“If you don’t mind, I certainly don’t. But, just one dance.” He emphasized, actually not too keen on dancing with strangers; it felt very strange.
“Just one is fine. I thought you would refuse on the grounds that you couldn’t dance.” Princess said with a smile, then released Xia De’s hand and twirled around, pulling her skirt. The blue skirt spread out like a flower. She turned back to Xia De.
“Don’t go to the crowded area over there. Just here is fine. We can hear the music here too.”
“No problem.” Xia De nodded, not forgetting to explain, “I’m not very good at this; I’m just a beginner at dancing. Not long ago, I attended a very important banquet, and two pretty girls taught me to dance together. At that time, I stepped on them several times.”
If he hadn't been wearing a mask, Xia De would have certainly seen the expression on the face of the girl who called herself “Princess” at that moment. However, through this probing, Xia De pretty much understood who she was, but in that case, the relationship between “Princess” and Writer was a bit too absurd.
He planned to expose this noble girl after the cruise ship safely docked. Now, everyone almost knew, but no one had broken the silence. The Outsider, eager for more stories, and the Princess, relaxing with a little joke, both wanted to quietly enjoy this peaceful “Coldwater Port Holiday.”
The sound of the orchestra came from the other side of the deck. The two dancing in the night wind actually heard the loudest sound as the waves beside them.
Although Xia De had learned to dance with Luvia and Iluna, he was still very clumsy. Fortunately, Princess was very considerate of him. Even when Xia De clumsily almost stepped on the young girl’s shoes, she only chuckled and didn’t care at all.
Neither of them spoke during this time, but quietly enjoyed the moment. When the music stopped, and Xia De released his hand, Princess actually paused for a moment before letting go, allowing Xia De to step back.
“Yes, you really aren’t very good at dancing,” she said in a joking tone, “The feeling you gave me just now was like a clumsy elephant carefully avoiding banana peels on the ground.”
After speaking, without giving Xia De a chance to reply, she pointed to the other side of the deck.
“Let’s go, the auction is about to begin. By the way, did you bring enough pounds? I brought a draft.”
“I brought a lot of cash,” Xia De replied.
“Really?” Princess looked at his clothes, not understanding where Xia De’s “large sum” of cash was hidden.
The auction was held at the very front of the deck, with some wooden boxes stacked to form walls, allowing entry to the front of the deck only through an entrance between the guarded wooden boxes. Only guests holding special invitations could participate in the auction. This was partly to prevent people with ulterior motives from sneaking onto the cruise ship, and partly to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering the auction.
There were at least a hundred guests on the deck, but including Xia De and Princess, only twelve guests ultimately entered the auction.
Loose benches were placed on the deck, and masked people chose seats far from strangers. Most of them came alone; those like Xia De and Princess were a minority.
Time was limited, and there wasn’t much idle talk before the auction. In the sea breeze, the white-bearded old gentleman simply explained the auction rules, and then the auction finally began.
There were a total of eleven items for auction: five relics, one fifth epoch antique stone tablet, one potion, two pistol-shaped alchemical items, and finally two old books. One was related to the Ling Rune 【Soul】, and the other was the study notebook of a certain Ring術士 who died in the New World.
There was no cargo list before the auction; people only knew what the items were when they were brought out, so inspecting and viewing the goods took quite some effort.
The total number of registered relics was only in the five digits. The appearance of five of them in this auction was quite a grand gesture. Among those five relics, three were Poet Grade, one Document-level, and one Secret Keeper Level. But unfortunately, there were no coin-type relics that Xia De needed, nor anything else that interested Xia De.
Princess, however, was interested in the Secret Keeper Level relic 【time sand】, which was sand that, when scattered, could very slightly affect the flow of time in the nearby area. But because there was competition, Princess gave up when the bid rose to 460 pounds. This relic sounded interesting, but it had no practical use and was mostly bought for research.
Xia De did not buy any relics, but he became interested in the antique stone tablet. The stone tablet was half a person tall, excavated from an ancient ruin in the New World, and recorded a rain-praying ritual in the South Continent at the end of the fifth epoch. The text on the stone tablet had not been deciphered, but Xia De, while viewing the item, completely recorded this large rain-praying ceremony that required hundreds of people to participate.
As a result, this stone tablet was useless to him; he had obtained useless Knowledge for free using a small trick.
The most sought-after item at this auction was not the five relics, but the bottle of potion. The potion was contained in a flat glass container, exhibiting a very luxurious purple glow. It was called “Ring術士’s Grace.” Within one hour of drinking it, the soul would become exceptionally sensitive, greatly increasing the probability of obtaining Ling Runes through reading, touching, and comprehending, and also increasing the possibility of encountering normally unseen existences.
In other words, this potion, with significant side effects, could effectively increase the efficiency of obtaining Ling Runes. Even though this enhancement was very slight, this potion still sold for a high price of 210 pounds, higher than the price of the lowest-priced Poet Grade relic.